There is no more prestigious boat in Olympic rowing. To be a member of the British coxless four carries with it great expectation: you are rowing in the wake of Matthew Pinsent and Steve Redgrave.

For the past three Olympics, the men’s crew have taken gold and in Tom James, Ric Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge British rowing appear to have found the crew to make it four. Egington, Gregory and Langridge were world champions in 2009 and have been joined by James, who won gold in Beijing four years ago.

They went unbeaten all season, at times winning with imperious ease, before winning the World Championship in Slovenia last September. Despite that success, they will have to fight to retain their place in the boat, in trials in March, as coach Jurgen Grobler retains a policy of unsentimental meritocracy. We caught up with them before they left for gruelling training camps in Spain and South Africa.

This season you are unbeaten and world champions. It seems to have been the perfect season going into Olympic year.

TJ: We’ve had a great season. We won every race we entered. To win in Slovenia was more of a relief. The World Championships is the one you want to win and we had won everything up to that. We knew early on in the season that we were the best four out there so we knew we had to win at the Worlds. The pressure was on us. We’d also had a few upsets and injuries, so there was plenty to deal with. When we were out there we dealt with those things quite well even though it was not our best row by any stretch.

AG: I think that’s what our coach, John West, was particularly good at. Always pushing us on. Every session he would ask us if we wanted to come off the water a little bit worse or a little bit better. We’d all chime up “a little bit worse!”. That was never an option for him.

He was always on our backs, pushing us on technically and physically. It was a way of keeping the momentum because we had speed in this boat right from the beginning.

Being the British coxless four carries a special expectation after what has been achieved in the boat in the past 16 years. Is that inhibiting or inspiring?

TJ: Being in the same event and class as people like Pinsent and Redgrave is an honour. We are trying to continue their legacy and if we do win in London it will be a fourth consecutive gold medal for the British coxless four. It is exciting to be part of that legacy. I don’t think any country has done that before.

ML: When we’re out in the water, paddling around, you feel everyone is looking at us. The legacy of what people have achieved in the boat gives me a buzz.

AG: In 2009, when I was first selected for the four, it was my proudest moment. It was because it was the four and everything that went with it. It’s very special.

RE: Expectation of success has always been there. British rowing has been doing well since 1984 so it’s only natural that people expect us to be very strong.

You spend a huge amount of time together, much of it putting yourselves through a lot of pain. How do you get on?

RE: Having a good sense of humour. We all respect each other enough to be able to take the p--- out of each other. I really like it because it keeps us relaxed, keeps it fun.

ML: At a big championship you are living with each other for so long you tend to get on top of each other a bit. It can get a bit more tense but generally it is a really relaxed boat to be in.

TJ: We complement each other quite well. We each bring something different that the others don’t have, whether it is in our personalities or the way we row. We play to each others’ strengths and cover each others’ weaknesses.

RE: A good example of that is that I was always the late one before, but since TJ has come into the boat he’s even later than me. He takes all the pressure off me.

TJ: It’s for the good of the boat.

Great Britain win gold at the World Championships in Bled, Slovenia

How hard was it getting back in the boat after the Worlds?

RE: It was very, very painful.

AG: It was only three weeks but suddenly we all had baby’s hands. They were covered in blisters.

ML: It felt like starting all over again.

TJ: It was unbelievable. The boat was crashing around, we couldn’t fit in our seats.

It can’t have been as hard for you, Tom, as when you came back to the sport after two years away?

TJ: I came back after a year off but I got injured, which meant I had a very frustrating period for 13 or 14 months. I’d had a hip operation and the rehab from that was punishing. Luckily things went well in selection this year though, and I got in this boat and I have been riding the crest of a wave ever since.

RE: He had a lot of weight to lose.

TJ: I suddenly realised I didn’t quite fit in the boat. And then I was doing the old man rowing, with the fat getting in the way. I was about two and half stone above my race weight. It was pretty painful. When you think about coming back you forget about all the ergs, the hard training, the pain involved before a big race.

AG: I think it’s like women giving birth. They go through a horrendous time and as soon as the baby is born it’s all forgotten. And immediately they want another one.

The team from left to right: Tom James, Alex Gregory, Matthew Langridge and Richard Egington

What does the winter training involve?

TJ: The winter is pretty horrible.

RE: We go out to Sierra Nevada in Spain, 2,300m up in the mountains. Not that we get to see any of it. We take our rowing machines up there and go into a room that has these tiny little windows. It feels like you’re training on a plane.

AG: We spent three weeks there and we can go the whole time without stepping outdoors. Weights, ergo, food, bed.

RE: It’s grim. Even the food is rough.

TJ: When you arrive you come through a really nice ski resort. Your dreams are dashed when you walk into the facility.

ML: It’ll be worse this year because we know what’s coming. As the bus winds up the mountains the feeling of dread will grow.

Who do you see as your biggest challengers next summer?

RE: It can change year on year. Just look at the last Olympics when TJ was in the coxless four — none of the medallists from the previous year’s Worlds made the final. It’s not common but it’s not unusual.

ML: We certainly think the Australians will be up there. We were all expecting they would give us a bit of competition in Slovenia and we were surprised when they didn’t.

AG: They like to talk the talk and write in their own press that they’re going to wipe the floor with the rest of the world.

ML: They will definitely improve from the worlds and they will be a threat.